People in Fur
by Dark Mirage1
Summary: We know all about ferals, people with some characteristics of animals. But why have we never heard of Augments, animals with some characteristics of humans? Surely they must exist as well. PreIncident X Mason Eckhart meets a special Augment, and takes h
1. Chapter 1

**1989**

"Come down to C3911N, Mason."

"I've cleared off my desk and I'm ready to go home. Can this wait until tomorrow?"

Adam didn't have anywhere to go after work except back to his dark apartment still furnished with the student junk he'd brought from his Stanford apartment over a decade ago. Whatever Adam did with his money, he did not spend it on home décor.

He did not understand that most of us had homes and families to return to each evening. He did not even have a houseplant to keep from drying out. Adam's attitudes and expectations led me to remind myself that Adam was actually older than I was. Only with difficulty had I persuaded him last year to retire his fading Farrah Fawcett poster from the late 1970s from the wall of his main lab.

"It's important that you stop by this conference room before you go home."

"I'll be right down, Adam. Make it quick."

Sublevel C was three levels below the acknowledged basement of Genomex. Some of the work conducted there could be fairly described only as creepy. If my duties did not require me to spend time in the sublevels, I would never choose to spend time there.

Adam was seated alone in C3911N, a barren-looking conference room with beige carpeting, off-white walls, and dark walnut table and chairs. Sprawled on the carpeting was a huge English sheepdog.

"I want you to meet Sam."

The sheepdog stood up, trotted over to me, sat down, and offered me his right front paw, tail wagging.

"I'm Sam." The dog was _smiling_.

"Adam…"

"It's not a trick. Sam has been engineered to have the physical capacity for human speech and intelligence well above the human average."

I reached down and took Sam's paw in my right hand. He curled individual toes about my fingers in the closest approximation of a handshake a canine could manage.

"Mason Eckhart."

"Sam's very special, Mason."

"I can see that."

"Sam is part of a program with two different goals. Some of these subjects will become spies –who would suspect Rover or Mittens of espionage—and the others will serve as companions to some very special disabled people."

Sam was studying me carefully, and still wagging his tail.

"And you summoned me here because…?"

"Sam's been an outstanding student. However, his education is incomplete. He needs to spend time in the 'real world' with 'normal people' to deeply understand how things work. I'd like him to go home with you tonight."

"Jackie doesn't like dogs. She was bitten by one when she was twelve and required a lot of stitches. I want Grey to have a puppy when he's a little older, and she agreed to that only if the puppy was carefully, _carefully_ selected for temperament."

"Relax. I've already spoken to her. She has agreed to having a 'houseguest'."

Sam's tail had stopped moving. "Mason, I would never hurt anyone in your family. Only two circumstances could lead me to harm a human: self-defense, or the defense of you and your family."

Truly, the eyes are the mirrors of the soul. Despite long hair in his face, what I could see of Sam's eyes revealed a deep soul indeed.

I sighed. Knowing Adam tended to add layers of complexity to one's life.

"Okay. I'll do it."

"I knew I could count on you to come through for Team Genomex." Adam smirked. He knew I loathed corporate sports metaphors.

Adam rose from his chair and extracted a stout leather collar loaded with metal tags from a pocket. "Come here, Sam. You can't leave without this."

Sam turned and padded slowly over to Adam. "Must I? These things are so degrading. Arooo…"

"Outside, if you become separated from Mason, some very bad things could happen to you if you're picked up as a stray by Animal Control." Adam buckled the collar in place.

Sam's face showed disgust. "Degrading…"

I decided that in my house, the collar would come off.

"Time to go home, Sam."

Crossing the parking lot to my car, Sam spoke again.

"Don't you like me?"

"Why, yes, I do. Why?"

"You don't seem pleased."

"I'm not happy with the way Adam presumes upon our friendship, and delivers last minutes surprises. You, on the other hand, seem like a decent guy."

"You think so? Really? Aroo?"

"Yes. Adam should not have put you in the middle of things. We both deserve better from him."

Sam was so relieved to be assured that I liked him that he loped around me in wide circles. "Aroo!"

"Do you like to go running?"

"Oh, I do, yes."

"Then you and I can go running together. I try to do several miles a day."

"That would be so wonderful."

"I'd enjoy the company."

"You're not going to regret this, Mason."

I unlocked the passenger side door for Sam, who entered carefully, first tapping free any gravel from each front paw, then shaking each hind foot.

"Thanks, Sam."

He held himself up straight and proud on the seat. "If you have any doubts remaining, be assured that I am no mere canine."

"That was obvious from the beginning."

"Not everybody notices."

I realized Adam had sent us off without any of the things that Sam would need. "What about food…dishes…?" I felt awkward asking, because of the implication that Sam would eat from and sleep upon the floor.

"Oh. That's right. Adam is not details-oriented."

"What if I stopped at one of those stores that allow 'pets' inside, and you picked out your own things?"

"There are such stores?"

"Yes."

"Wow. You realize, I have lived a sheltered life."

"Just stay close to me so no one hears you."

Sam was thrilled. He picked out exactly the kinds of foods he liked, and some stylish ceramic dishes. He chose a large doggie bed, selecting the fabric carefully, with the goal of "complementing my extraordinary fur," as he explained with a smile.

"Genomex is buying you some nice things."

"Aroo," Sam whispered conspiratorially.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as I opened the car door, Sam leapt out and rolled in the lawn.

"_Real grass_. The small things matter."

"They always do."

We went into the house, and found Jackie in the kitchen. Her gaze dropped down to Sam.

"What's that?"

"Adam didn't talk to you, did he?"

"About what?"

"About Sam," I said, pointing to the top of Sam's head.

"No."

"He owes me now…Jackie, meet Sam. There is more to Sam than meets the eye."

"You know I'm afraid of those things."

"Ma'am…Mrs Eckhart…I assure you, there is no reason to fear me."

Jackie stared at him. "This isn't a trick, is it?"

Sam answered for me. "No, ma'am."

"I don't know what to say."

"The plan was for Sam to stay with us for a while to learn about the real world. Sam is a decent guy. He is smarter than a lot of people."

"I'm not your ordinary canine," Sam said, smiling.

"Okay, but one of your furry brothers bit me so badly when I was a kid that I needed a bunch of stitches."

Sam shook his head. "Barbarian! Savage! Please accept my apology on behalf of my species."

"Well, I do, but you had nothing to do with it."

"Nevertheless, ma'am, there are dogs and _dogs_, and I promised Mason that he would not regret bringing me home."

"You're quite the charmer," Jackie laughed. "And nothing like the miserable attack-beagle who chewed on me.

She walked across the floor and kneeled in front of Sam.

"It's okay, then?" Sam asked.

"Oh, yeah. Is it okay if I tell you you're cute?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Can I hug you? All of that lovely fur is hard to resist."

"Oh, I wish you would." Sam's tail wagged energetically.

"Where's Grey?"

"He was asleep in the family room."

Just as I went to find him, Grey walked into the kitchen, eyes wider than I'd seen them since last Christmas morning. I had no doubt that I was witnessing love at first sight.

"_A dog_."

"Grey, this is Sam. He's going to be staying with us for a while, but not permanently."

Sam backed gently away from Jackie's hug. "Excuse me. I've heard about your son, and must meet him. There's nothing to worry about."

Jackie smiled. "I know."

Sam turned and bounded over to Grey. "So, you're Grey! Glad to meet you!"

"You can talk? Dogs aren't supposed to talk—that's just in cartoons." Grey looked from Sam to me.

"Sam is special. You and Sam can play with your friends, but you must never tell them he can talk. It has to do with my work."

"Oh." Grey looked serious.

"But you can talk to him all you want if no one else is around."

"How do you see with all that hair," Grey asked.

Sam laughed. "Aroo! It isn't easy."

"Do you like to play 'fetch'?"

"I don't know. What is it?"

"I throw something, you catch it or pick it up, and bring it back to me."

"Sounds like a good game to me."

"Let's go play now!"

"After dinner, Grey. Right now, it's time to eat. We were just waiting for your father to get home. What about Sam, Mason?"

"His things are out in the car. Help me get them, guys."

I washed Sam's dishes and emptied a can of his choosing into one of them, then helped Jackie finish bringing the meal to the table. (She had fed the twins earlier.) By now, I was not surprised when Sam sat quietly by his bowl and partook not a nibble until we were seated and ready to eat.

I'd have to find out who raised him to be so well-mannered and considerate. Certainly Adam was not involved. While I was impressed with the way he had charmed Jackie into accepting him, I was sure his sentiments were perfectly sincere.

_Just exactly how much of a canine was Sam, anyway? Is it reasonable or even fair to think of him as a dog? His intelligence is unmistakable, but his consideration, sense of humor, sensitivity—all combine to make him more engagingly human than a lot of people. Is Sam a dog…or a person who goes about on all fours who never has to worry about being properly dressed? And what does Sam think of all this?_

The more I thought about him, the more questions arose about Sam. Many of them had no obvious answer.

Was Sam a person, or as a dog would be, _property_?

Paul Breedlove maintained a stable of attorneys, but they chiefly concerned themselves with the protection of Genomex intellectual property. As long as Adam and Breedlove looked at Sam and the other Augments and saw only "dog" or "cat", the questions would never seriously be asked.

After dinner, after dark, after Grey was in bed (One of my questions about Sam now had an answer. By reading Grey a bedtime story, Sam demonstrated clearly that he was literate. I suspected that would he would have rudimentary skills and be capable of reading signs and labels, but his education extended well beyond that.) Sam and I went running.

"Just be careful not to talk in front of other people," I said, tying my shoes on the front step. "And I'll try to remember _not_ to say or ask anything of you. Talking to you seems so normal."

"They all say that," Sam said, smiling. "I think it's because so many people talk to their pets, even though they don't get replies."

"Hmm, some of them would disagree with you about that. Dr Varady tells me ordinary cats and dogs can learn the meaning of about 25 words, and of course, they respond to the tone of what is said."

"True. And some people are more aware and 'tuned-in' to animals than others, beginning with an understanding of body language and hard-wired instincts. What they do appears miraculous to people who think a non-Augment is a furry automaton."

"Are you talking about someone specific?" I asked.

"Yeah. Dr Patty Teva."

"The name is familiar, but I don't think I've met her. Is she still with Genomex?"

"Nope. She left a bit more than two years ago after running the Augment program from the beginning. She loved all of us, Augment and non-Augment alike. She was incredible with the non-Augments. She took the time to gain their trust. A lot of the guys in the program saw the non-Augs as tools –raw material-- on the way to making Augments,but Patty cared about everybody.

"Why did she leave?"

"Disagreements with Breedlove about the funding and direction of the program. We all still miss Patty. She's the reason the Augment program succeeded. She wanted to push us, to develop each of us as individuals, and find out just how far an Augment could go. Patty's a biochemist, not an educator, so she got Dr Varady involved and the two of them developed teaching programs for us."

"I'll have to talk to Laura about this. I had no idea."

"You should. One barebones goal of the program was that we should understand and speak standard English. We accomplished that. Patty taught us how to read, and that opened our minds to other worlds, and whether Breedlove wants to admit it or not, that will make us better at our jobs."

"True."

_To be continued_


End file.
